Whom is the UK, i.e. capabilities or lack thereof, versus whom is Argentina???

* SAME > US ARMY STILL HAS KEY ROLE IN ASIA "PIVOT".

IMO Guam's new utility is that as a node not only for Prompt Strike Global Strike + SpaceStrike, but as for conventional US Army-Marines RRF/RDFS + SPECOPS coming from CONUS [contingency = crisis base], notsomuch anymore for the USN albeit it may still be used by the USN for temporary Naval Resupply + MWR.

The Fed Sector will continue to shrink until either Guam becomes a de facto full US State, or Guam becomes a de facto full Independent Nation.
Lest we fergit, USDOD = NOTHING BUT PEACEKEEPING + MINOR CONFLICTS THRU YEAR 2050 IFF NOT YEAR 2100.

ARTIC > SecState Nominee JOHN KERRY = argued that "CHINA IS ALL OVER AFRICA ... THE US HAS TO FIND A WAY TO GET IN [simil enter the Markets]".

* WORLD MILITARY FORUM > JAPANESE SCHOLAR: IFF CHINA DEPLOYS 60% OR MORE OF PLA IN VARIOUS OVERSEAS OPERATIONS, CAN THE SUPERPOWER US ACCEPT OR TOLERATE IT?

* SAME > LUO YUAN: SINO-JAPANESE MILITARY CONFLCIT OVER THE DIAOYUS [Senkakus] WILL LIKELY SPREAD TO BULK OF EAST-ASIA + PACIFIC RIM REGIONS. ONCE JAPAN FIRES THE FIRST SHOT, CHINA WILL BE JUSTIFIED TO USE ANY MEANS NECESSARY TO "FIGHT AND WIN" AGZ JAPAN OR AGZ BOTH THE US + JAPAN, ETC.

* SAME > JAPAN'S YOMIURI SHIMBUN: CHINA'S LATEST TEST, DEPLOYMENT OF ITS OWN MISSLE DEFENSE SYSTEM IS A TOUGH RESPONSE TO US SUPPORT OF JAPAN IN DIAOYUS /SENKAKUS DISPUTE. CHINA SLOWLY BUT STEADILY IS NULLING OR OVERCOMING THE MILITARY ADVANTAGES OF THE US IN A SINO-JAPAN MILITARY CONFLICT.

I am a Métis from Northern Alberta. My father, Mervin Bellerose, co-authored the Métis Settlements Act of 1989, which was passed by the Alberta legislature in 1990 and cemented our land rights. I founded Canadians For Accountability, a native rights advocacy group, and I am an organizer and participant in the Idle No More movement in Calgary. And I am a Zionist.

Let me tell you why.

I grew up on a Métis colony in what many would say are rough conditions: we had no electricity, running water or telephone. When it rained, the dirt roads that linked us to the highways flooded and we were stranded. I lived in a bunkhouse with my two stepbrothers, while my father and stepmother lived in a small cabin nearby. We raised a garden, hunted and fished, picked berries and made the odd trip to town to buy supplies. My father worked construction and lived in camps for long stretches and I would often stay at relatives' to escape my stepmother's abuse. Still, I considered my childhood normal.
Continued on Page 49

[Dawn] DR Tahirul Qadri's long march to Islamabad is over and done. It shook the political spectrum -- at least for the five days that it held the nation in thrall. Whether it will produce any long-lasting impact and change the direction of Pak politics is doubtful.

As people continue to speculate about the 'who, wherefore and what' of the long march it is time to focus on one incontrovertible aspect of the event, namely, Dr Qadri's ability to mobilise a huge crowd. I will not even attempt a guesstimate of the size of the crowd and start a debate on that. The fact is that the crowd was bigger than what we generally see in rallies organised by activists, to whom Najma Sadeque, a journalist, likens Dr Qadri. He himself doesn't lay claim to politicianship.

The social and economic environment at present is most conducive to a movement for change. Despondency surrounds us. Unemployment has broken people's backs. Violence is endemic. Utilities are in short supply. And above all, there is no light at the end of the tunnel for the vast majority.

The question to be asked is how did the leader of the march manage to pull off this show of strength when others fail? Najma Sadeque's answer is, "He is, like many of us, an activist, except that he has huge resources and tremendous organizational abilities. Not surprising when he's got hundreds of institutions not only within the country but also outside."

She also remarks, "Dr Qadri may have a different way of doing things, not the way some of us may have chosen ... He may not represent all the marginalised of Pakistain -- who does? But he certainly represents a sizeable number who are suffering. He's got people to take a stand, and put a rotten government on the defensive. Isn't that what every activist and people's movement, big or small, tries to do?"

Najma Sadeque's analysis is spot on. But the key issue that needs to be studied -- and it would be instructive for many activists of the left -- is how could Dr Qadri mobilise such a sizeable crowd? True, they were people who have many grievances. But so do those who gather for protest marches and vigils called by the drawing room liberals (to quote I.A. Rehman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistain). How come Qadri's supporters braved a cold and wet Islamabad to join the long march voluntarily? Why can't activists, especially those claiming to speak for the marginalised, accomplish a similar feat?

To answer this question we need to understand what social mobilisation is. It basically needs a leader with organizational skills who is trusted by his followers, has a network of person-to-person contacts, and is able to offer sufficient incentives (not necessarily financial) and provide his followers a sense of participation. That proved to be the forte of the leader of Minhajul Koran International.

Technically speaking, political parties should be best equipped for this task. Regrettably, they are not as they have lost credibility. They do not deliver on their promises. The Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... enjoys an advantage in terms of credibility because it is untested so far. But Imran Khan... aka Taliban Khan, who isn't your heaviest-duty thinker, maybe not even among the top five...'s strategy to build up services as an incentive -- his cancer hospital and Namal College -- is too limited in scope.

Dr Qadri's focus is on the middle class and he aims to penetrate the social sectors where he has unlimited opportunities. His website makes impressive claims. Even if they are exaggerated they couldn't be entirely untrue. The Minhaj chartered university in Lahore, 572 schools, 42 colleges, numerous cultural centres at the Union Council level, 3,000 libraries, 102 free clinics and blood banks all over the country would be connecting millions to the "Shaykhul Islam". More are in the offing, it is promised.

Although Islamic teachings and rituals form a major point of reference, the man is clever. The education offered is also directed at teaching temporal skills. For instance, the Minhaj University has five faculties, apart from Islamic Studies, that offer over 30 courses ranging from Business Administration and IT to mathematics. He knows how desperate the middle-class youth is for affordable education that can be a stepping stone to a good job.

It is the only organization of its kind that has an ongoing relationship with its members, although I do not feel too excited about its approach to religion. But the relationship it forges with its members certainly helps the organization in mobilising them. Many religious parties, especially the Jamaat-e-Islami...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores..., have similar structures. They have a welfare wing to provide services and indoctrination that facilitates penetration. But they lack credibility because of their past performance.

This explains why advocacy groups fail to mobilise more than a few hundred to their protest rallies, although they also need to demonstrate their popular strength to make themselves heard. With a fire-fighting approach, they respond only when a crisis occurs. They do not have permanent linkages based on trust with the marginalised. This lack of permanent and credible structural relationships makes it difficult to mobilise people at the grassroots. Neither do the marginalised classes identify themselves with the numerous activists and advocacy groups who have only promises and nothing tangible to offer.

If they manage to get oppressive laws changed, the impact does not trickle down to the grassroots fast enough for the people to relate the change to the democratic process and the liberals' strivings.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.